Tarneeb vs Spades
Two partnership trick-takers, one Levantine and one American — close cousins with very different tempers.
Tarneeb and Spades look alike from across the room: four players in fixed partnerships, thirteen tricks a hand, a trump suit that outranks everything. Sit down at either table, though, and the games play out very differently. Here is exactly where they part ways — and which one to learn first.
The differences at a glance
| Tarneeb | Spades | |
|---|---|---|
| Trump suit | Chosen by the auction winner each hand — any suit can be the tarneeb | Always spades, every hand |
| Bidding | One auction: bid 7–13 tricks for your team; highest bidder names trump | Every player bids their own tricks; a team's target is the pair's sum, and Nil (zero) is a special call |
| Direction of play | Counter-clockwise — to the right | Clockwise — to the left |
| Scoring | Make the bid → score the tricks you won; fail → lose the bid. Race to 41 points | Make the bid → 10 points per bid trick, overtricks become bags that cost 100 at ten; games often run to 300–500 |
| Sweep bonus | Kaboot — winning all thirteen pays a premium | No sweep bonus in the classic game; Nil is the big gamble instead |
| Heartland | The Levant — Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt | United States, then everywhere office computers went |
Naming trump vs living with spades
The soul of Tarneeb is the auction: win it and you name the trump suit to fit your hand — a long clubs suit becomes a weapon nobody saw coming. In Spades the trump never changes, so the skill shifts from choosing power to timing it: when to cut, when to lead spades to pull the opponents' teeth, when to hold the ace one more trick.
Team auction vs individual promises
Tarneeb's bid is one number for the partnership — seven tricks minimum, thirteen for the brave. Spades makes every player promise their own count, and the drama comes from the promises that don't fit together: your partner's confident 5 next to your shaky 2, or the famous Nil — a promise to win nothing at all while your partner covers you.
A sprint to 41 vs a marathon of bags
Tarneeb scores fast and clean: make your bid and every trick you took counts, fall short and the bid comes off your total — first team to 41 wins, and a kaboot (all thirteen) can end a game on the spot. Spades is slower poison: ten points a trick sounds generous until the bags pile up — every overtrick is a grain of sand, and the tenth costs your team a hundred points.
Which should you learn first?
- Learn Spades first if you want the gentler on-ramp — fixed trump means one fewer decision, and the bidding teaches hand evaluation.
- Learn Tarneeb first if you want the auction battle — naming trump is the most satisfying moment in either game.
- Honestly? They sharpen each other. Tarneeb players read trump distribution better; Spades players count tricks better.
Keep reading
- How to Play Tarneeb — the complete rules.
- Tarneeb Strategy — bid and play like a Beirut café regular.
- How to Play Spades — the full Spades guide.